After the commercial and creative disaster of 2013 major-label debut Dirty Gold, Angel Haze has reignited her passion. The bullish, self-released Back to the Woods – produced by the up-and-coming Tk Kayembe – eschews the smooth edges of commercial appeal in favour of the emotional rawness that made her early EPs so electrifying. “I’ve got my middle finger up to white America for trying to whitewash my blackness” she spits on the metallic clank of Impossible, while The Wolves embeds her rapid-fire delivery in the sort of experimental setting Timbaland used to create with Missy. A gifted singer, Haze can also create delicate beauty – Moonrise Kingdom, The Woods – but she’s still at her best when she takes aim and fires.
